A Man Could Get Killed (1966)

An American businessman (James Garner) arrives in Lisbon but is mistaken for a British spy on the trail of diamond smugglers. Despite his protests that he's just there on business for an American bank, it isn't long before he finds himself up to his neck in intrigue and murder. Based on the novel DIAMONDS FOR DANGER by David E. Walker and directed by Ronald Neame (PRIME OF MISS JEAN BRODIE) and Cliff Owen (THE VENGEANCE OF SHE). A comedy/adventure that should be more fun than it is. Cliff Owen was the original director but when he proved unsatisfactory, he was replaced by Ronald Neame though both directors get on screen credit. The screenplay had possibilities but it's a curiously flat movie that I'll just chalk up to its different directors, neither of whom seems to have a flair for the genre. As a seductive widow, Melina Mercouri (looking ultra glam) manages to look like she gets it and is having fun but James Garner and especially Anthony Franciosa flounder and poor Sandra Dee is wasted. By this point in her career, she'd outgrown these kind of parts that she played in her teens. The movie has two assets however. The striking wide screen cinematography of Gabor Pogany (De Sica's TWO WOMEN) shows off the Portugal locales handsomely and there's a nice score by Bert Kaempfert whose love theme became a big hit for Frank Sinatra, STRANGERS IN THE NIGHT. With Robert Coote, Roland Culver, Cecil Parker and Dulcie Gray.